Leadership Academies Grow Among Community Colleges
Community colleges are experiencing rapid growth, while at the same time losing significant numbers of experienced and dedicated personnel to retirement. One of the biggest challenges facing institutions of higher education today is how to prepare individuals within their colleges to assume leadership roles in addressing institutional, local and national issues. A campus- or system-based leadership academy can help meet this challenge.
Leadership academies target the institution’s mission and strategic goals, such as creating an effective environment for teaching and learning and community outreach. Academies are concerned with how individuals function both within their own departments and within the larger college. The skills that academies develop include information gathering and interpretation, effective communication, strategic planning, team building, performance management, action-oriented decision-making, innovative risk-taking, conflict management and negotiations, and building and managing relationships.
What are the essential elements of successful leadership academies?
Stephanie Meinhardt, Registrar and Director of Admissions at the Spring Creek Campus of Collin County Community College in Plano, Texas, points to buy-in. “The most important thing is having the president involved in the idea from the beginning,” she says. “The initiative for our Academy began as our president and cabinet saw that our leaders were aging and a huge gap was beginning to form.”
Collin County Community College’s Academy for Collegiate Excellence (ACE) is in the middle of its third year. The president meets with each academy participant to discuss the issues confronting community college presidents. Board members talk about the operational aspects--financing, economic development, and board relations--as well as higher education law, ethics, fund-raising and development. Through their continued interaction with ACE participants and graduates, the president, cabinet and board members ensure that the true purpose of the Academy is achieved: preparing leaders throughout the institution.
Another essential element is mentoring. “Mentoring is something unique that we’ve done,” says Kathrine Swanson, Associate to the President for Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Initiatives at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. “In our Leadership Academy, we’ve put time and resources into mentors and mentees so that we can be more intentional in the mentoring process.” SinceMontgomery’s program matches participants with someone outside their area of expertise as their mentor, with each pair working on a college-wide project, the mentees’ leadership development is tied to the mission of the entire college, not just to that of their own department. “A current project that will be completed this year is a training manual on how to work effectively with adjunct faculty. This will be a huge contribution to our institution.” says Kathrine. “And most importantly, people feel valued--those doing the project and those reaping the benefits.”
Massachusetts, which has fifteen community colleges, developed its Community College Leadership Academy (CCLA) to provide a pathway for these colleges to prepare their future leaders today. The capstone of this Academy is the required residential experience. “The Academy allows us to learn from each other,” observes Jan Motta, Executive Director of CCLA, “by developing a learning community among the fellows that continues long after the year is over.” In their residential experience, CCLA fellows engage in sustained intellectual inquiry and skill development, living and learning together for five days and four nights at a host institution. Fellows make presentations to their colleagues exploring topics such as leadership and its context, the dynamics of public educational organizations, teaching, and learning, resources, and accountability.
There is strong interest nation-wide in the concept of the campus- and system-based leadership academy. Presidents of community colleges agree that it is important to the future of their colleges to provide these opportunities for growth and development for current and future college leaders. Leadership academies can prepare individuals for leadership roles in all areas of their college.
ICCD provides on-site consulting services for design and implementation of campus- or system-based leadership academies. Contact Lee Riddell, Assistant Director, for more information at Lee.Riddell@cornell.edu or (607) 254-8260.
By Lee Riddell
